Not Quite A Kishin
by CharlieKhakiDragon
Summary: The start of a strong partnership as Kylar battles enimies of the present with links to his past, and friends for the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Not Quite a Kishin**

**But a Demon None The Less.**

"_Shinigami-sama, you called?" Maka politely asked. Another mission already? There was allot more going on lately, and Shinigami-sama was taking no chances. The Technician Academy Shibusen was just as it sounded. It was a school for gifted children, and by gifted that meant powers. Usually those who displayed traits to become beings known as Weapons and their partners Technicians where trained to fight, all for the protection and prevention of the rise of another Kishin, a Demon God. Having narrowly brought down one not too long ago, anything that sounded suspicious was checked out immediately. It always used to be, but now, less than three months after the incident, they responded far more quickly. _

_So now Traditional Scythe Master Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Evans stood in front of the large mirror that held the image of the 'headmaster' of Shibusen. He was exactly what he looked like, a long black robe, skull mask, a Grim Reaper. Although he was not the grim kind. _

"_Yes yes. It seems there has been some pretty suspicious activity in this particular town." he lent forward and whispered the word suspicious, as if he was gossiping among friends. _

"_So we just need to check it out, sounds cool enough." Soul grinned. An easy sounding mission._

"_Not quite, I'm afraid." His humorously nasal voice made it hard to take Shinigami-sama seriously . "The informer has made it clear this is of a higher priority, so you are going to meet him there, and form a three man team, until a solution can be found."_

"_Six people?" three Technicians and three Weapons, sounded like a little overkill for 'suspicious'._

"_No no, Maka – Ch~~an, three people, you two, and Kylar Otori. ~Nayan" he wobbled for a bit._

"_This Kylar is the informant? Doesn't sound cool, people from the intelligence department and scouts are not good for fighting." Soul shoved his hands in his pockets. _

"_I think you will be surprised, try not to annoy him, he can have scary temper." Shinigami-sama said cryptically before sending them off without a word, but a few of his more noisy mannerisms. _

"There's no hope for you if it took that long for you to get here." Kylar slipped off the wall, after watching and assessing the two, like he had needed to watch them all the way from the station, but if things got out of hand. He never bothered to finish the thought. The girl was sharp, and dependable, according to Shinigami-sama, and the two worked well together. His baggy black trousers clinked slightly with all the trinkets and buckles swinging around on them, but that was to hide the gun holster on his right thigh. Practiced at landing lightly even in his huge boots, Kylar tugged his shirt, also black, straight and straightened himself. With the messy dark hair and the colour scheme, no one even noticed the small bandage around his right wrist.

Soul eyed Kylar, his clothes might have been cool, but the outfit didn't fit his posture. He stood calmly and looked bored, Maka could tell he was confident.

"Kylar Oto..." Kylar cut him off.

"Kylar's fine. Soul and Maka." It wasn't a question.

"What's the problem around here then?" Maka ignored the forwardness, it was only for a short while. What had Shinigami-sama said about a temper? He looked fairly relaxed now.

"The usual signs, people acting up, unwarranted and sudden paranoia. Disturbing rumours, that kind of thing."

"So why two groups?" Maka tried to ask nicely.

"I said I could handle it, but Shinigami-sama wanted some support, just in case things got explosive. Truthfully, this is on a scale similar to those appearing before the first, last time." He corrected himself.

"You're a tech'? Or a weapon? So why don't you have a partner?" Soul had no sense of tact sometimes, but Kylar just replied over his shoulder as they walked.

"I would be a tech, but I work alone, like it that way."

"You can fight then?" Soul was warming up to Kylar, he sounded cool.

"Yeh, suppose. Try not to though." Soul made an inquiring grunt. "Things usually get, messy." Kylar shrugged. The scouting out went both ways, they had to find about each other as much as the situation.

Kylar brought them up to speed. The town was small, all the locals knew each other, but with enough traffic from outside that it was impossible to pin a handful of characters. Luckily that also meant that the three of them looked like a group of outside students.

"There was a hospital, or medical institution, it was for the, mental," Kylar paused over the word. "That was decommissioned when the larger complex was built over in the city over." He jerked his head. "But the people where happy to get rid of it." Soul sat back, but listened. "There was some paperwork mix up, purely accidental or on porpoise I don't know, but it caused enough confusion for most people to vote to bury the hatchet and leave the place alone. That was four years ago. Recently though, there has be some renewed interest, by some official no one much likes around here, BuisenessManType, he wants the space, materials, the details are all speculation, the big shots won't talk about it and no one else knows the real ones. But it dredged up all the old stories, shook loose a few fears. The problem though, is some of them aren't all lies. That's all I could scrape up in a day."

A shadow falls over Soul, he looks up into a face that wasn't set quite right, either an unlucky child, or the result of too many hits to the face.

"That's some detailed stuff you gots there." He sneered, the usual posse of lackeys snickered behind him. Kylar just shrugged. Unlucky grabbed the front of his shirt before Kylar could turn away. Kylar blinked at the slab of a fist under his chin. "Where you brats from anyways? What you doin' here?"

"Researching."

"Yah bein' smar'?" Hat stepped forward, he had a worse accent and Kylar almost made a show of translating before he replied.

"Can't help it, sorry." He, smiled at them, then staggered sideways as Unlucky's fist landed square on his jaw. Kylar's smile changed. He smirked, and looked at the group.

"Not too bad, I guess." Unlucky yelled and ran forwards. Maka jumped up, but was too late to intervene, not that she need have bothered anyway. Kylar neatly sidestepped bringing his fist up sharply and Unlucky pitched forwards. So his face was definitely his own fault then. Soul called out.

"Are you alright out there?" he was talking to Kylar. Kylar didn't, or rather couldn't reply. The rest of the gang jumped him, where he had been. Even on a bright day and wearing black and buckles, Kylar slid around the group, taking one out after another, still smirking. Soul and Maka watched, within moments, Kylar was the only one left standing. He rubbed his hand over his hair and sighed, as if he had been for a light jog.

There was a small crowd, as always happens, even the nicest of people will pause to watch someone else's misfortune. White flowed down Kylar's leg, the end of the bandage fluttering gently in the wind. Maka stepped over, ignoring the unconscious bodies around them, and lifted Kylar's wrist. He tensed at first, but relaxed when he recognised who it was. The last end of the bandage slipped off, and piled itself neatly on the chest of Hat. Maka blinked in confusion at the tattoo. A sun like circle of thorny vines stood out on the pale skin of the inside of his wrist, Kylar immediately held his other hand over it twisting it out of sight, but fevered whispers had already started running through the crowd. Kylar pulled his wrist back, expression unreadable.

Maka stared around as the people returned the stares, not at her, but at Kylar. The tension grew, partly fearful, undertones of disbelief, confusion and rage. Was this about the gang, they had started it, maybe Kylar did go a little overboard but none of them had died.

Without speaking, still expressionless, Kylar walked away, the crowd parted easily. Out of nowhere someone threw an empty can, Kylar easily deflected it, but the shouts where harder to block. Maka drew up beside him.

"What the..." Kylar cut her off, stony faced.

"Leave it Maka." She searched his face, for a response, anything. This had to mean something. Soul followed glaring at the rest of the crowd.

"But." She stammered.

"Happens sometimes, can't be helped." Kylar gave her a weak, nervous smile trying to reassure her, it didn't.

"Kylar." Maka sounded apologetic, probably in place of the townsfolk.

"I'm hardly popular in some places, not entirely un deserved."

"Look," Soul took his attention away from the crowd, but Kylar kept on walking.

"Just leave it ok? People can't just forget that easily." Something flickered across his pale features, regret, pain? What was this all about? Kylar sighed. Suddenly he tensed, and Maka also whipped her head around. She sensed an evil soul, the wavelengths chaotic and violent, but with so many people she couldn't pinpoint it. Soul was still oblivious, at least until a throwing knife buried itself in his back, Kylar had already picked one out of the air. Soul yelled more in surprise than pain, Maka grabbed his arm, Soul got the hint and transformed.

Kylar monitored the souls of the townsfolk, analyzing, and managed to match the signature wavelength residue on the throwing knife to a single soul at the back of the crowd, moving away.

His mind snapped back to visual as the souls reacted, he lost the signal. The agitation swelled after Soul had transformed into his weapon form. The resulting emotional chaos blocked the specific wavelength he was searching for, but the distinct pattern soon showed through and it didn't take Kylar long to locate the person responsible.

Maka was calling out to try to calm everyone down. "Don't panic, we are students of Shibusen." Like they were going to listen, all they saw was a small girl with a big scythe. First they caused the distraction, then they let loose with the information, and allow him to escape. It couldn't have gone worse if they planned it. It wasn't their fault, they hadn't spent time trying not to be noticed. Kylar pushed through the mass of humanity toward the spot where he had last seen the assailant. This time the crowd, now quite large, wouldn't move aside. Kylar at last broke free, and spotted the assailant retreating into an ally.


	2. Chapter 2

Kylar leapt, mid stride, and fell short. At the last moment he managed to grab the edge of the rooftop. His left arm twisted painfully and he nearly lost his grip as his momentum slammed him against the wall and swung him round. Luckily because of this he saw Assailant charging towards him along the rooftop of the previous building. Pistol already in his hand, cocked and loaded, Kylar squeezed off a few light shots , forcing him to duck back and take cover, giving Kylar enough time to haul himself up the wall and roll onto the blessedly flat roof. He panted, blood dripped down his face as he dragged in air. The now familiar rhythmic pounding of Assailants footsteps forced him up and to start running again. The footsteps stopped, Assailant easily cleared the gap and continued running. What the hell? Why was this such a struggle, he'd been caught off guard, and it was still affecting him this far in to the fight? Kylar fumed. After the tables had turned, Kylar running rather than chasing, everything had gone downhill. The tiles irrupted to his left, forcing him to duck, he slipped on some of the debris and stumbled. Luckily this saved him from what would have been a nasty blow to the head, but he dive rolled to get some extra distance. Boots scraping on the roof as he slid back a little, facing toward Assailant, his Browning BDM held steady in both hands.

He had switched the Magazines, judging Assailant to be dangerous enough for real bullets. Normally he had a custom made Clip that converted certain parts of his soul wavelength into ammunition of varying intensity, but not much could beat good solid bullets. Except this man it seemed. He was not wholly human, his speed matched Kylar's and his shier strength was ridiculous.

Double tap, run, change direction, get cut off, double tap.

The barrel slid back and Kylar cursed, his left hand was already coming up with the second Magazine as the first fell out of the grip, and Assailant slipped round the corner. Taking two steps up the wall, Kylar flipped over and behind Assailant whose hand whipped out at Kylar's throat. He ducked and lashed out with a backwards kick while he slid the Magazine home and pulled the barrel back. As he brought his leg down and stood, Kylar released it and fired off a double tap at the large man, who somehow remained unscathed.

Thinking fast Kylar sprung to the right, over the edge of the building. Half breaking his fall by grabbing a lamppost with his left hand and changing his direction. He still hit the ground hard, and rolled before he broke something. Jumping upright he came face to face with a young boy, whose expression mirrored his own surprise.

Sensing more than anything, Kylar pivoted, pushing Boy out of the way just in time to see the brilliant glint of metal before Assailant landed on top of him. Kylar bit back a scream, he involuntarily shuddered as his strength seeped out of his body, joining his blood spreading on the cobblestones.

Desperately fighting for consciousness, Kylar gasped for air past the immense weight on his stomach and the pressure of the metal shaft through his chest. Assailant was mumbling something at high speed, whatever he was doing definitely wouldn't end well for Kylar. At this distance the big man couldn't dodge a double tap to the head, but as Kylar angled the Browning at Assailant's head, it was flicked away. He had prepared for that, expected it. Kylar's left hand charged with a large amount of offensive soul waves shot up towards Assailant's chest. He was undefended, left hand busy with Kylar's right and the Browning, right hand firmly around the metal keeping Kylar pinned to the ground. Assailant flew away with the help of a foot or two, taking the metal with him, this time Kylar screamed.

All as planned, except one problem, he had expected to still have his Browning, he hadn't thought he would lose it. It had been knocked out of his hand as Assailant had viciously smashed his knuckles onto the floor.

Hacking, Kylar rolled onto his side and curled up. Suppressing the pain he assessed the damage. His hand hurt, a lot, but the fingers still moved, though the chest wound was a different story. It missed his heart and amazingly most of his lungs, quite a few broken ribs, but he was still alive. Without much of a pause he staggered upright. Assailant was also getting to his feet, Kylar smiled to see he also had a large amount of damage.

A throwing knife appeared in his hands, Kylar tensed. Assailant drew his arm back, with a deft flick at the last minute changed his target to Boy. Hadn't the brat run away yet? He was routed to the spot with fear. The blade bounced off Maka's scythe, Soul in his weapon form. They had finally caught up. The damn kid fell over, staring at Maka's back. Taking the distraction to its full advantage, Kylar dashed forward.

A flurry of successive expert hand to hand attacks forced Assailant to retreat a few steps. The shock quickly wore off, and Assailant returned attacks.

Maka and Soul openly gaped. Kylar was pulling out some moves that where only possible in some kind of ninja shounen manga. Made all the more effective with his hands charged with offensive soul waves, each direct hit causing twice the normal damage.

Kylar almost had to hold his breath against the pain, he fought through it, ignoring it. He didn't allow his attacks let up for a moment. But the pain didn't want to be ignored. His leg buckled, the hesitation allowed Assailant to reach out and grab Kylar by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Blood flecked his lips as Kylar choked in Assailant's grip, that wasn't dangerously tight. He was cutting off enough circulation and air to slow Kylar's thoughts but not enough to kill him, and he could, easily. The thought of how easy it would be for this unnamed man to crush his neck with one hand grated on Kylar, right to his core. He felt helpless, and that hurt worse than all of his battered body.

Maka screamed and tried to run forward, and ran into something. Kylar's Assailant was mumbling in another language, or it was gibberish. He was spell casting! How could he do that without being a witch, or without releasing soul protect? This was unheard of. Kylar was choking, struggling feebly, and Maka could do nothing, this barrier was to strong. Kylar was also mumbling, coughing out words. Maka couldn't hear them. With new strength, Kylar griped Assailant's wrist and growled.

Assailant screamed as his wrist was crushed in Kylar's grip, and reeled backwards, the barrier vanishing. Kylar kept his feet and stood straight, pain vanishing. He shouldn't do this, but he couldn't help it. Adrenalin raced through his blood, numbing his pain, changing him. His sight intensified, detail suddenly clarified, hearing sharpened, he could single out the breaths and heartbeats of the humans. He could sense the synchronised wavelengths of Maka and Soul. He could smell his own blood, their fear. This was what he was born to do, trained to control, right now, he was more alive than ever! This was the reason he lived at all, the ecstasy was almost overwhelming.

Maka stared in disbelief. Kylar was fine? Was that an act? The blood had been real, he was badly hurt, so how could he stand there like nothing was wrong, she ran to him. His expression changed from anger to that same smirk from before but with a hunger for violence, a sick form of retribution, the spark of madness.

"Kylar?" he didn't look at her, only at Assailant groaning on the floor.

"I'm pissed off now." He reversed the process, lifting Assailant with one hand. But he big man wouldn't go down easily, he slammed his last good fist into Kylar's stomach, who barely flinched. Kylar and Assailant fought, Kylar looked elated, he was smiling.

Was this the temper Shinigami-sama mentioned? His soul wavelengths had changed, bordering on a Kishin. It was more terrifying because his soul was stable. Here he was, fighting insanely, and yet, it was controlled.

Maka stepped back, it was horrific. Assailant tried to fight back, that failing he staggered towards Maka and the boy.

Kylar snapped out of whatever he was doing. He couldn't do it like this, it was meaningless if he could only become that beast. He dived sideways for his Browning. Kylar never reached it, he was crushed into the floor, Assailant was a lot heaver than he looked. He began chanting again, Kylar couldn't shift his weight from under the man, his chest was absolute agony. He doubted Assailant could move his own weight. His pistol was tantalizingly close, he reached out to it and was only a few damning inches short.

The magic kicked in. Kylar forgot his gun, using the last of his breath he yelled at Maka to get as far away as they could. Lack of breath, the very solid presence of the huge weight on his chest and the searing magic, after a brief scream, forced Kylar to pass out.

The wind died down, and Soul stepped forward, and kept falling. At about a foot down, the edge of the crater deepened slightly toward the middle, where Assailant and Kylar had been. Maka grabbed a handful of Soul's coat, holding him back. He turned round, slightly annoyed, and scared, but not at her.

"We couldn't have done anything, Soul. He told us to get away." Soul shrugged her off.

"We should have done something, this is so not cool." Was he angry because he couldn't keep up with Kylar or because he was gone? The noise of the magical explosion had brought some civilians and a small fire crew. The smoke cleared and the towns people gasped at the crater, the explosion has damaged the nearby buildings. But it wasn't really an explosion, things had just, vanished.

An old lady pushed he way to the front of the crowd. She questioned the fire chief, dissatisfied she strode, yes strode over to Maka and Soul, who was sitting on the edge of the crater.

"Things like this have been happening before, when others were taken. Who was it? Someone you know." Maka gazed at her, face full of grief, but it was Soul who spoke.

"Our Partner." She just nodded.

"This is the largest one I have heard of. Did you see it happen?" before they could answer someone shouted out from the crowd.

"It was that Otori bastard, who cares what happened to him? He's better off dead anyway." Soul stood up and shouted, it was unlike him.

"He may well have just saved your lives!" but Maka remembered how he had fought with Assailant, that smile. Shinigami-sama was right, he did have a very scary temper, if that was him angry.

"Who did this?" the old lady ignored the shouting. "if we can trace this, we might be able to find out what happened to the other people who were taken." Maka couldn't speak. She didn't trust herself to open her mouth.

"It was that same man we have been chasing all day. He wasn't human anymore. It was some kind of spell. But if it was a destruction spell, why would he suicide, if this has been happening a long time, there must be more with magic powers." Maka realized it was her own voice, emotionless.

"Not a destruction spell?" the old woman suggested.

"Maybe, the ground wasn't damaged exactly, burnt, just gone." Soul glared at the crater, as if blaming it would make him feel better.

"But this is on a whole different level. It's huge." Someone from the crowd muttered.

"It might have been because Kylar was resisting the spell, he would be a Tech, he should be capable of blocking simple spells."

"Whatever, let's just find the other's." Maka regained some of her control.

"And our partner!"

"That Otori might be dead, there's no point." the rest of the crowd agreed. Soul did not.

"He has a name! It's Kylar! And he is our partner, we don't just give up on people!"

"He is an Otori." Said the woman, as if that explained everything. She gave them a sideways suspecting look. "Are you also Otori?"

"My name is Maka Albarn, and my Partner is Soul Evans. Students and reprisentatives of Shibusen." The woman ignored them. She moved to take Maka's wrist, and pulled back the sleeve. The old woman nodded and looked at Soul's arm. Satisfied with something, she nodded again.

"Why do you hate Kylar?" Maka moved closer to Soul.

"He is an Otori." Stated the woman again, as if that was all they needed to know.

"So? What does that mean?" Soul spat out the sentence.

"You don't know?" that was the first emotional response she had shown. "The Otori clan, a clan of demons." Maka cut in.

"I can see souls, Kylar is not a demon."

"Ever met one?" the old woman raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. He nearly…" she trailed off, Soul stood close.


	3. Chapter 3

The cold stone pressed against Kylar's face. He groaned, every part of his body ached. This was far beyond anything he had gotten into before, but he was alive. It was a long while before Kylar could move at all, inching his arms painfully up, his first attempt at getting up failed, his second was thwarted. Someone placed a foot on his back forcing him down, once again Kylar gasped for breath. The pressure was released, he tried to lift himself off the floor, it didn't work. The foot kicked him over. After his eyes came into focus, Kylar hurriedly tried to focus his mind. The thin man had high cheek bones bight green eyes, and as for dress sense, that only worked if you where some kind of vampire.

"I treated your more serious wounds. You won't die, not from them at least."

Kylar tried to get up, again failing horribly. Antagonist pulled him up by his shirt front, head weakly lolling back. "There's no point resisting, you can't even hold your head up, Kylar Otori."

Kylar made a futile attempt at grabbing Antagonist's hand, he could barely raise his own arm. Something cold and metal slithered across his neck. Kylar ripped his attention away from the grip to the chain, cutting into the flesh. It was too tight, he couldn't get underneath it. Just as Kylar's vision started to fade, the pressure disappeared. His shoulders smacked onto the floor, white spots sparkled in his head. Managing to curl onto his side Kylar choked again for breath, tugging at the chain to loosen it further. It was seamless, a single length of chain looping around itself forming a choke collar, too small to pull over his head, long enough to give decent leverage to Antagonist. It lay heavy and cold against his neck. With the desperate breathing and coughing, Kylar's chest ached horribly, but Antagonist was right, the wound was no longer fatal.

Blinking heavily, Kylar tried to organise his thoughts, it was allot harder than it sounded.

"I'll get straight to the point." Antagonist moved in front of Kylar, so he could see him. Kylar managed to get out a hoarse grunt that was supposed to be a 'good'. Antagonist treated him to high-pitched giggle. "You have something I want, a few things actually."

Kylar gave up on the idea of getting up. He stayed on the cold floor at Antagonist's mercy, and hated himself for it. "And what could that possibly be? What you see is all I have. I'm not one for valuable stuff." His breath rasped in his chest, Kylar felt dizzy, he was glad he was already lying down. Antagonist laughed again.

"Excellent. You are as I had heard you would be. Even now, you joke. I know you have no possessions. What with your family dead, home destroyed." He smiled evilly, sarcastic. "I wonder how that happened." Kylar snorted and stared at Antagonist's shoes. "But you have things that vary in value, depending on the person, you deal in information, it is what makes you formidable. I do hope you are not one of the followers of honour."

Kylar snorted some semblance of a laugh, oh the irony.

"Not likely. Look what happened to the rest of them. I'm not going to stake my life on a useless idea like honour or pride." Antagonist's sickening smile broadened.

"Then I think you will like to share with me, we may be able to get along."

"A clan of demons?" Soul was less than convinced. "If Maka says so, Kylar is human."

"They became demons." The old woman sat on a bench. Speaking mater-of-fact like way. "Something about their souls."

"Kylar fights like Professor Stein. He has a very flexible soul, and can directly attack with it. I don't understand why he doesn't have a partner, he could work with anyone." Maka looked at Soul, who nodded. "He can willingly change his wavelength, into different types, also with incredible precision, because this," Maka cradled Kylar's pistol. "It utilises soul waves, converting them into an offensive force, like a Tech-Weapon resonance." She looked down at the only thing left of Kylar.

"These soul waves, they powerful?" Maka nodded.

"His are, with his accurate manipulation." The old woman nodded.

"The Otori clan, a large family, where murderers, Assassins." Maka and soul blinked. "They took contracts for kills, sometimes to steal information. Their skills where unparalleled. There wasn't a dirty deal, mysterious death, political coup that didn't involve the Otori. But of course, there is no proof, and that's only the instances that benefitted by the public knowing who was responsible." The old woman spoke in almost a monologue.

"The Otori lived and worked in the shadows. If you where targeted by the Otori, the only way out of it was to kill yourself, either way the outcome was the same. They had frightening powers and techniques. Some say they could wrap themselves in shadows, or become them, and could walk right by you without you ever knowing, slipping through walls, some say they could become the people that targeted, and read minds. All of these myths are founded on sliver's of truth, but the only people who knew for sure where the Otori." The old woman tugged her cardigan tighter. "Whenever they did fight in the open, paid by some lord, or general, they fought like beasts, men possessed, women too." She shivered "they where terrifying. Living legends of darkness."

"You keep saying 'where'." Soul had lost his intensity, numbed slightly by the story.

"They're gone now. Dead. I didn't know there was even one still alive, and a young one at that. He couldn't have been more than a child." Bitterness tinged the old woman's voice.

"What happened?" Maka hugged the pistol.

"No one knows for sure. Displeased client, internal feud. There was a battle, many died, and the Otori disappeared. No mention of them for years." She waved her hand as if brushing the topic of the past back there.

"What exactly do you want?" Kylar's voice was barely audible.

"Your abilities, your power." Antagonist was serious, Kylar laughed, kind of.

"It doesn't work like that." Antagonist's smile slipped, and he kicked him. The blow connected and Kylar felt his chest crunch in places before he could roll away. Regaining focus, the face he saw was a young girl's. Kylar blinked again. She was sitting, hiding, in the corner of the room, scratch that last, it was a large cellar, making herself as small as she could so as not to be noticed. But in the dark room, her pale skin stood out, even beneath layers of dirt and grime and a filthy tiny dress that might have once been a night gown. But what made her stand out where her bright blue eyes and long blonde hair that still shimmered in the dim light.

Antagonist pulled Kylar up onto his knees, and held him there, whispering.

"I know you have power, Otori. Your abilities are legendary. I want that strength." He walked round and lifted Kylar's chin on his fingertips. "You who are gifted at birth with power, you who never understand what it is like to want, to need such power, while the rest of us must grovel and cheat, must sacrifice to gain what you are born with." Bullshit, Kylar's contempt must have shown through, Antagonist backhanded him across the face. Kylar sprawled on the stone, Antagonist was just greedy for more strength, he had plenty already, or was Kylar so weak that he was being beaten around by this wisp of a man. The girl huddled in the corner with her hands over her mouth. But Antagonist wasn't done yet.

"You have never had to watch, helpless to do anything." He noticed Kylar flick his gaze back to the girl, and grinned. "You like her? She is here for my amusement. She was the only other to survive being brought here with magic, this is a lesson to her as how far I can go, to ensure her obedience. Pretty, but small. Shame she doesn't speak though. Never a sound." He composed his face. "How about a trade. Give me what I want, and you can have her, with your own life of course." Kylar managed a non comment grunt. Antagonist laughed. He raised his eyebrows, questioning.

"I told you." Kylar swallowed. "It doesn't work like that." Angered, Antagonist backhanded him across the face again, Kylar hung limp by the collar. Scampering up the little girl hesitantly stepped forwards. If she was going to get out of here, it was going to have to be with this boy, he couldn't take her away if he were dead. She stared pleadingly at Antagonist, lips quivering. Antagonist dropped Kylar and stepped menacingly towards her. Before she could flinch he clutched her tiny neck in one movement. Her eyes shot even wider as she picked at his hand with her thin fingers. He just held her until her clawing became frantic, then viciously threw her to the floor. She looked so thin and fragile, like a porcelain doll, brittle. Antagonist made a motion towards her and turned away. Assailant stepped out of the shadows, a little worse for wear, but healthy enough. He marched over, and she tried to scrabble away, Assailant, or the dim-witted goon, twisted his thick fingers in her hair. She pushed herself up on to her toes, without a sound.

Antagonist ignored her, attention back on Kylar, irritated. Kylar tried to lift himself up, arms shaking, he managed a few inches before Antagonist hoisted him the rest of the way. He knocked Kylar back onto his knees.

"Well?" when Kylar held back his answer, Antagonist buried his fist into Kylar's stomach, gagging, he could only wait for the blows to stop. Finally daring to breathe, he watched as the blue eyed girl struggled against Goon and he held her out at arm's length toward Antagonist. He slapped her, hard. He raised his hand for another slap, but Kylar caught his wrist. How he had gotten up, even Kylar had no idea. Antagonist simply raised his eyebrow, and swiftly elbowed Kylar back. He motioned to hit her again.

Before he could move, Kylar grabbed his ankle with more strength than he thought he had. He managed to gasp out a recognisable sentence.

"Leave her alone. She hasn't done anything."

"If pain towards you doesn't threaten you, maybe violence toward her will be more effective." Goon lifted her off her feet, by her hair, she didn't make a single noise, only screwed her face up in pain. Kylar growled, he got louder as he saw the moves he would make, killing both men. Antagonist noticed the change. Too late he tightened his grip on Kylar's shirt. Kylar easily flipped him over. The adrenalin started to pulse and he broke through the pain. Fighting like this, when he could feel nothing, would cause exponential damage to his own body, maybe even kill him, but Kylar no longer cared. If this sadistic bastard thought he could kidnap an Otori, he was gravely mistaken.

Something unexpected happened. Kylar woke from his blackout, that in itself wasn't what was strange, whenever he fully released the beast inside of his soul he lost control of his mind and body, but this time he hadn't fought to regain control, it was slipping back. His hands where bloodied, but it was his blood. He had been clawing at the collar that was outrageously tight, cutting off all of his air. His feet swung uselessly in the air, and his arms grew heavy. He couldn't see, his ears filled with the pounding of his blood blocked all other noise. But he could smell fear, Antagonist was shaken, Goon's wounds had re opened and he was sweating, the Blue eyed girl was terrified, and so was he. Kylar started at his own fear, then his mind caught up with what his body already knew. He was dying.

All of a sudden sweet cold air forced itself into his lings, waking fresh pain in his chest. It ached from trying to pull the oxygen in faster, from the coldness of it, the terrible wound, and the despair.

"Even the great Otori can die. You are far from invincible." Kylar tried to roll onto his back, but Goon had his foot on the end of the chain, forcing him down. He could only raise his head a fraction.

"Even in such a state, you put up a fight. This is the power I want. You will tell me the secrets of the Otori." Kylar's cough sounded like a laugh. At some unseen motion, Goon lifted his head with a fistful of his hair. Antagonist held the girl with her arms behind her with one hand, the other caressing her cheek. The look on her delicate face was one of utter terror, she knew what was coming next. Kylar tried to turn away but Goon's grip was too strong, Kylar corrected himself, he was far too weak. Antagonist basked in Kylar's expression.

"That's it. This is what you have done. Tell her there is nothing you can do. Tell her why she is here." Kylar screwed his face up, the same way she had. Goon pulled, and Kylar's throat stretched to its limit, his back arched. He only managed a pathetic strangled noise, before Goon eased off a little. Finally he croaked out a broken sentence. His voice shook from the shame, knowing the blame was his.

"I can't help you, it's my fault. I'm sorry." Goon clenched his fist until he thought his skin would split, but he got the hint to open his eyes. Once again, Kylar was wounded and helpless, incapable of doing anything except watching in horror. He couldn't even struggle.

Antagonist smirked as he ran his fingers down her neck and along her collarbone, tracing the curve of her shoulder. Kylar shivered as she tried to turn away, to shake him off. Every time Kylar tried to look away or close his eyes, Goon tightened his grip until he looked back. Antagonist advanced slowly, if he was getting any pleasure out of it, it was because of Kylar, he looked more at him than at the girl.

Through tear blurred eyes, the blue eyed mute girl willed for the worst to be over, but knew it was futile, but she didn't understand why Kylar cried. Neither sobbed, tears fell silently down their cheeks. Antagonist slowly slid his hand across her chest and under her dress, she bit her lip, staring at the ceiling. A wordless cry of pain and rage tore its way past Kylar's throat. Goon tightened his grip, but was blasted away with a solid force of contorted soul wave, this time Kylar didn't release the beast within him, he became it. He let loose all of the feelings, longed to lash out at something. Instead of blacking out like usual, he saw and felt, as he somehow shook off the goon and slammed into him. A new ability presented itself to him, instead of simply blasting a target with condensed, offensive soul waves, he hardened them around his hands, into solid claws of pure malice. He charged forwards at where Goon lay crumpled and broken on the floor, and proceeded to rip him to shreds. He left the mangled corpse and leapt at Antagonist, Kylar took delight in the stench of his terror.

The massacre was almost instantaneous. Kylar paused, blinking at the blotch of colour in front of him, it spread out into the face of the girl. She looked straight into his eyes, scared, but not terrified. His blood covered fist had broken the stone by the side of her head, and she gripped the collar in both of her tiny hands, not so it tightened, but simply holding it. She saw the change in expression, and relaxed. She reached up to his face, but Kylar spring back. She didn't seem hurt, not by him at least. Then reminded himself that the fact that she was hurt at all was his fault in the first place.

Wrapping his arms across his chest Kylar rocked back on his heels, he crouched and breathed slowly to calm himself. He didn't need to look to know that the two men where misshapen corpses at either end of the room. This girl was either amazing or stupid. She knelt in front of him and pushed his hair out of his face. Her cold hands wiping the tears he still cried from under his eyes. Quickly he brushed her off and stood up. Wincing, he staggered up to the door and leant on the wall while he tried the handle. The door didn't budge. Bracing himself Kylar gripped both hands over the handle and pulled. Still nothing. He inspected the lock. It was sealed with magic. He glowered at the door for a long time, until he noticed the girl standing next to him. He moved away and she also inspected the lock.

Kylar knew what he had to do. And judging by her questioning look, glancing between him and the door, the girl knew too. She smiled. He told her to stay in the far corner until he got the door open, she went without protest, of course she didn't speak. Placing both hands on the door Kylar took a deep breath. He instantly regretted it. He focused on his wavelength. He changed it, forcing it to resonate faster, at a harsher note.

There was more blood on his hands, Kylar distantly looked down at them. He felt dethatched, dreamy. His hands where the wrong way up, the fingers pointing towards him. They looked far away, small. He tried to turn them over, they didn't move. Where his arms broken? What about the door? And the girl? His hands moved, he blinked at them, another pair appeared. Larger, and more bloodied. They where his hands. The girl was turning them over, lightly touching. His fingers twitched, he looked up and her face swam into focus. When she noticed him looking at her, she smiled. He was standing in the stone stairway presumably the other side of the door. She took a few steps, when he didn't follow, she turned round and grabbed his hand, pulling him on.


	4. Chapter 4

The site where Kylar and Assailant had disappeared had been fenced off, Maka and Soul wandered around it, looking for something, anything. The old lady followed them round, asking questions and occasionally offering up similarities and differences to the other incidences. They where no closer, to anything.

"The first one was very messy, bits blow all over the place, scorch marks, toppled trees."

"Trees?" Maka folded her arms and frowned at the crater.

"Most of the first ones appeared in the forest, on the hill over there." the old woman nodded her head.

"The forest, hill. Near the old hospital?" Maka still frowned. When the old woman agreed, she face palmed. Soul looked over.

"I've been so stupid!! What was the first thing Kylar told us about? The Hospital! If people have been disappearing when the new business man showed interest into it, it would be the perfect way to put off other people."

"But what would anyone want to use humans for?" Soul had his hands in his pockets, and sulkily leaned against the wall.

"That man from before had a Kishin Egg soul. He could be using human souls to get more power."

"So he takes them to the old hospital? Wouldn't it be easier to kill them and take their souls then and there?" Soul sounded dubious.

"Maybe he does something to them before hand?" Maka slowed down, Soul made sense.

"We should check it out, can you sense souls from here?" Soul stepped forward, grateful for some kind of plan of action.

Kylar's arms should have been excruciating, but his whole body was numb. The blue eyed girl curled up in his arms. It wasn't surprising really, she didn't look like she could run very much, and they had moved through the ancient building at great speed, as it practically fell apart around them. As soon as they were outside, she had collapsed. She was wearing Kylar's shirt, that was humorously outsized on her, being larger than the dirty dress she wore. Her little face frowned slightly as she slept.

Lurching to a stop, Kylar squinted in the light. Random sounds trickled through his exhaustion, and identified themselves as human voices. He blinked stupidly as Maka and Soul rushed forwards, while he just stood there.

Kylar looked a right mess, covered in blood, a hole in his sleeveless top, carrying a tiny girl wrapped up in his shirt, her bare feet poking out the end. He seems utterly caught off guard. He didn't respond to much, and looked around slowly. Both him and the girl where deathly pale. He gathered enough sense to ask only that they look after her, but when one of the men with Maka tried to take her, she clung desperately to Kylar.

"Silly brat. I can't help you like this." Kylar blinked hard, and again, before sighing and giving her a look of exasperation, yet compassion, then falling over backwards.

The rest of the crowd, the old woman and a few of the braver man of the town, where at a loss at what to do. They hadn't actually thaught they would find anyone. Yet the Otori had collapsed in front of them, carrying a child who refused to let go of him. But the way he had looked at her, weren't the Otori supposed to be cold and ruthless.

The girl grogily started to wake. She was in a bed, in clean clothes, and alone. Panic gripped her, she threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, fear forcing her awake. She started for the door when it opened and then ran face first into a woman in an apron carrying a clean set of linin. She let out a surprised exclamation and a protest as the girl dodged past her. She paused on the landing, glancing around. There was an open door and soft voices floating out at the other end of the hall way. She cautiously moved over. It was a bedroom. A man sat on a stool by the single bed, in which lay, Kylar. She ran forwards, narrowly escaping Housewife who made a grab for her. The man started as she crashed in, and jumped onto the bed over Kylar. He was out cold, and she touched his face, as if to check he was alive and real. The man tried to pull her off, but she thrashed and threw him off. Kylar stirred, and she ran round the other side of the bed and glared at the man and Housewife. They tried to calm her, but she ended up ignoring them. Housewife protested as she curled herself up on the bed beside Kylar.

It was an effort to open his eyes, finally they cracked open. Kylar swallowed, his throat was raw. His chest felt tight, reaching up, his arm dropped. This was pathetic. Beyond the soft yellow light he felt soft fabric, but the lack of the sterilised smell denied the presence of a hospital, so this had to be someone's house. Swallowing again, Kylar looked down, and flinched at the skinny hand on his chest, he followed the arm to the girl who curled in the hollow under his arm, soundly sleeping. He moved her hand and winced. His chest was heavily bandaged, and his joints where stiff. Someone forced his hand down, he looked over into the worried face of a middle aged man. He shook the hand off and sat up. He gasped and screwed up his face. Knocking away the hand on his shoulder only caused more pain. The noises made no sense. He was sure they were saying something, but he couldn't understand. Shifting the weight on the bed, the blue eyed girl woke, and upon seeing Kylar sitting up was at first delighted, then very worried. She put her hands on both of his shoulders and used all of her weight to force him to lie down. She was sitting straddled across him, her long hair tickling his forehead and neck. The heavy chain was still in place, with a few bandages on the self inflicted wounds and the now heavy bruising. Kylar tried to sit up again, again she used her measly bodyweight to hold him down. Finally Kylar gave up. She rolled off and lay down next to him. They were both asleep very quickly.

By the time the girl, Nill, by what Housewife had told him they called her, woke, Kylar was cross legged on the end of the bed as Housewife replaced the last bandage on his arm. He heard the shift of fabric as she sat up and hesitantly moved towards him. When he looked over his shoulder she saw he was worried about something. She moved forward and touched his face. Housewife tied off the last of the bandage, just catching the tattoo on his wrist. They both looked at it, noticed the other and quickly looked away again, that mark brought bad memories for the both of them.

Kylar smiled. "You ok, Nill?" she pouted. "What?" she looked sideways at him. "You don't like the name?" she shook her head, and scowled. Kylar turned to Housewife. "What's her real name? Parents?" Housewife shook her head.

"We call her Nill because she won't say anything. No one knows where they are, she lives alone in one of the old houses on the edge of town." Nill's expression fell.

"Marli?" she looked up. "How about Marli? It means bird." she threw herself onto him, hugging. Kylar had to laugh. Housewife frowned at the two. He was Otori and she was the dirty abandoned girl, yet they treated each other like family. She supposed one unwanted creature deserved another. Marli looked up sharply, and glared hard at the woman. Housewife gasped. She felt naked, her soul laid bare in front of this child. Kylar was also looking at the woman.

"I can sense souls, quite accurately. This is where the myth of the Otori reading minds comes from, it's not quite that good, but close enough. And it looks like Marli can do the same." At the mention of her new name, she forgot Housewife and smiled happily. Kylar was not so quick to forget.

Sour faced, he stood up, only cringing a little. Marli grabbed his hand.

"I heal quickly." Bitterness, then something like sadness twitched across his face in quick succession. Marli approached Housewife, and offered a silent thank you. She also tried to say something else, but when Kylar stepped forward to try to translate, Marli pulled the woman from the room.

They were quickly replaced by Maka and Soul. Maka was shocked to see Kylar standing.

He shrugged. Trying to pear around the pair without moving, Kylar tried to see who was behind them with such a complex soul wavelength. The old woman stepped into view.

"Otori." She said by way of greeting. Kylar only nodded in reply.

"I've sent a report to Shinigami-sama." Maka eyed the two suspiciously, watching for trouble.

"I guess you had something to do with the collapse of the building." Kylar nodded again. "Care to tell us what happened?"

"Some greedy man, never got his name, was testing human souls and magic, for personal power. Seems he knew of the Otori before hand, and couldn't help but try to use me."

"So he's dead then." It wasn't a question, so Kylar didn't answer. There was an awkward silence. The old woman eyed him up and down, and then the space where Marli had been sleeping. Kylar saw her thought process.

"Of all the people taken, the two you wouldn't mind not coming back where the only ones to do so. Sorry, but the others never even made it to the building."

The old woman stiffened.

"Otori tricks."

"I'm right though." That wasn't a question either. Kylar's face was impassive. "He would have boasted the fact that he had more materials than me, he didn't, I believe it when he said that there were no others left alive."

"There defiantly aren't now, after you destroyed the whole building." Clearly the old woman blamed him. Maka wanted to intervene, but Kylar was still impassive, undaunted with the verbal blows. The woman spun on her heel and left. By the time Maka realised what Kylar was doing, it was almost too late. Soul still stared after the old woman.

"Ah! Kylar!" he was halfway putting on a new shirt, already done with the trousers.

"I'm fine. I heal quickly. And don't you think I've intruded on these people enough?" before Maka could come up with a decent excuse, he was already out of the door, fastening the last straps of the gun holster around his waist and leg.

Hastily Soul and Maka followed. Marli was in the kitchen fiddling with something. When she saw Kylar ready to go she scrambled after him. He turned to Maka.

"You wouldn't happen to know where my Pistol is." Maka silently presented the gun, Kylar had to stop himself caressing it, simply checking the slide on the barrel, the release on the magazine, and the firing mechanism still functioned properly. They did, nothing a swift clean wouldn't fix. He slid the Browning into the holster, comfortably on his thigh, where it fitted.

Outside Marli caught up and tugged hard on his arm. He looked surprised. Housewife followed them out. Kylar turned to her.

"Could you take care of Marli for me?" It was an awkward request. Marli clung tightly to him, She quieted with a look.

"I can't look after you, look what happened already." Marli pouted. She presented to him what she had been working in, a wire outline of a bird's wing. It was simple, but Kylar could see the effort she had put into it. He had no idea what to say, even housewife was stunned. She pulled him down and put the delicate chain over his head. Kylar blinked, and again when she held on to his hand. After a pause, he smiled and turned around. Maka ran up to join him.

"What about Marli?"

"Looks like she's coming with me." They were still holding hands, Kylar in black, Marli in a little white dress.

"To death city?" Marli squeezed his hand at the name.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Maka smiled. "What will she do there? Shibusen?"

"I'll decide that when I get there." Marli smiled, and Kylar smiled back, Maka thought they looked so happy together, these two who rarely smiled.


End file.
